1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to security systems for vehicles and more specifically, to methods for notifying or summoning authorities during a crime in progress.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is good reason for car owners to take precautions when approaching their cars in a public parking lot, especially if they are alone at night. Car thieves will sometimes directly confront or assault a car owner and forcibly take the car. When confronted with such a threat, the first concern of the car owner is to escape to safety, even if escaping requires the owner to abandon the car to the thief. Nevertheless, there is a need for a vehicle security system and method that will frustrate the purpose of the car thief.
A conventional car security system may either sound an alarm or disable the vehicle immediately at the time of theft. Such a system may be ineffective since an experienced car thief will recognize the existence of the vehicle security system. Furthermore, disabling the vehicle during a forcible robbery in the presence of a car owner or operator can be dangerous, since the prolonged contact between the car owner and thief allows the thief to direct violence against the car owner.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and system that notifies appropriate law enforcement or security authorities of the crime in progress. It would be desirable if the method and system facilitated separation of the thief and the car owner by allowing the car thief to drive off. It would be even more desirable if the method and system enabled a quick and simple recovery of the car.
The present invention provides a method, computer program product, and system for alerting authorities or emergency contacts during a car theft. The method comprises receiving a personal identification number into a vehicle security system; determining that a duress code has been entered; disarming the security system, wherein the vehicle may be entered and driven away without any indication of an alarm; and then disabling the vehicle upon satisfying a certain condition, such as a pre-determined amount of time or a predetermined distance. Before disabling the vehicle, it may be preferable to also satisfy a second condition, such as the vehicle traveling at a low speed, in order to avoid causing an unsafe condition. Preferably, the duress code has an identical number of alphanumeric characters as a normal personal identification number entered to disarm the security system.
The security system processor or controller within the vehicle determines that the duress code has been entered by reading the entered code, and then comparing the entered code with the duress code that is stored in memory. The vehicle is then later disabled by various means, for example, by closing a solenoid valve in a fuel line or by opening a circuit breaker in an ignition power circuit. After the vehicle has been disabled, the security system may then alert people around the car by setting off an alarm selected from sounding the horn, sounding an alarm siren, blinking the headlights, blinking the tail lights or combinations thereof.
If a mobile telephone is installed in the vehicle, then the method may further comprise retrieving a telephone number for authorities or other emergency contacts from the security system memory, and then silently calling authorities at the telephone number retrieved in order to notify them of the car theft and allow them to determine the vehicle""s location. In the future, mobile telephone systems will have the capability to determine the location of a given mobile telephone (a capability referred to as xe2x80x9cEnhanced 911xe2x80x9d) and using this feature would serve the present purpose. If a global positioning system is installed in the vehicle, the method further comprises reading the vehicle""s location from the global positioning system, and then notifying the authorities of the vehicle""s location. Notification may be by means selected from a pre-recorded message or an interactive voice response system, or combinations thereof.
The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numbers represent like parts of the invention.